The Hunt
by MasterQwertster
Summary: A look into the mind of the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter. After all, he had to do something to earn the title, even if he never does seem to hold on to the whelp Phantom for very long.


You are the greatest Hunter the Ghost Zone has ever known.

It is not a title you started with. Most ghosts do not start with such grand titles as "master" or "greatest." They come with time, gaining underlings and/or making yourself known.

You started as a blobbish creature a millennia or so ago, dodging around ghosts bigger and meaner than you. Watching them chase after and attack each other, sometimes destroy each other.

And one day you think, _I could do it better_.

So you set out to prove this. It starts with a helmet, stolen and modified to protect your squishy form as you hunt a large boar that the locals have been after for quite a while now. You take down and slay the beast without taking even a scratch. Others who tried ended up dead. It gives you a great sense of power and accomplishment to have completed a hunt that others larger and naturally more powerful than you failed at.

You hunt more. If someone else can't do it, you try your hand at that hunt. You collect armor, weapons, all of it and master it. You turn the hunt into art, not that many realize it is you. You see, you have to switch up the armor you use, the tools and weapons, depending on the hunt, leading others to believe it is a group. They call you the Armored Hunters. At least they figure out a sense of unity when you start using samurai helmets all the time. You love how they look like actual faces and that a bit of creative lighting, a little bit of flames here and there, give you a terrifying visage to behold. You are a fearsome predator and now you always look the part.

And then you met Technus and finally got a single, signature look.

Technus was annoying, calling himself a "new age" ghost and "Master of All Things Electronic and Beeping." You thought his wild hair might make a good broom or duster when you scalped him so that he would quit blathering on and on. But then he showed you the ecto-gun he made, the mechanical armor, in an attempt to appeal to your obvious like of good tools considering your eclectic equipment. You were intrigued. He said he could make one armor to fit all your weapons, that he could make them better… if you let him live and did not scalp him.

Needless to say, you did and he fulfilled his end of that bargain. You still visit Technus for the occasional maintenance or upgrade, though you do most yourself as no respectable hunter doesn't know his tools inside and out, forwards and backwards. You did shave him bald once (finally making that duster) when he messed with a part you specifically told him not to touch. He hasn't made the same mistake since, though Technus does get pesky about some of the upgrades you've made yourself and his desire to pull them apart and put them back together again himself. He shuts up when you pull the shearing knife out, thankfully.

Soon after the first Technus-made armor was completed, the Ghost Zone came to know that you were a single ghost, not a group, and the greatest hunter the Ghost Zone had ever known. They feared and respected the name Skulker.

Then came the Halfas.

The first one, Plasmius, as he came to be known, you found shortly after his ghostly birth. He was fairly easy to catch, barely knew how to use the innate skills of a ghost. It wasn't much of a hunt, but you had something rare that none had ever seen or heard of before. What you regret is failing to notice the keen mind of your prey, letting your obsession with the hunt lose you this fine prize.

Plasmius was clever. He knew ghosts fairly well before becoming a half-ghost, knew that obsessions were near impossible to resist, so he whispered in your ear, "Give me time, I'll become a better trophy later" and you listened because you wanted a hunt worthy of such a rare, one-of-a-kind specimen.

Ten years is not much time to a ghost, for they are slow to change. You didn't stop to consider that this might not apply to half-ghosts. After all, humans grow and progress so quickly, come and go in the blink of an eye really, when you've been around for centuries. So you went back for Plasmius ten years after you let him go, only to find yourself over-powered and outwitted. It is an embarrassment and it gets worse when he taunts that you didn't even force him to fall any further than his third of nearly twenty back-up plans. Yes, you forgot the tenacity and quick development of humans and it seems that the half-ghost retains at least that part of his humanity.

You leave in defeat, knowing that you may never catch that prize again. Not that you don't toy with ideas and make an attempt every now and then. As long as you carefully pick your timing, Plasmius doesn't get overly upset, though you've lost a couple of battle suits learning that and every failure ends up in you doing jobs for the Halfa.

Then comes the second Halfa, Phantom.

You call him Whelp, for he is a little twig of a thing, smaller than some of the other humans his age, certainly smaller than your armor or Plasmius. More than that, Phantom is young, both in power and life experience. You're not in the habit of hunting pups unless there is a guardian worth hunting coming to retrieve the pup. The whelp has no guardian, just more human whelps yipping in his wake, though they make the Halfa whelp hissy when you go after them.

The whelp is clever. Not half as clever as Plasmius, but clever enough to make things interesting, even if you aren't giving it your all. You are sure that one day you will be able to have grand hunts to capture the whelp, though you don't think you'll actually turn him into a pelt like you always threaten. No, you'll probably catch, torment a bit, and release because the whelp grows quickly and no two hunts are ever the same with him. The threats and torment push the whelp to get stronger, quicker, smarter, and that will keep the hunts interesting.

You even deign to teach the whelp a thing or two about being a ghost, mostly because his ignorance, on occasion, bothers you. On rare occasions when you decide to be honest with yourself, you actually admit you like Phantom and find him amusing. Mostly in the context of the hunt, but still amusing and likeable.

Yes, you are the greatest hunter the Ghost Zone has ever known, even if you now tend to play with your prey rather than end your hunt.

You are Skulker, and no prey escapes your sights.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

I have almost no clue where this came from considering that I'm not a big fan of Skulker or anything. I read a really good DP/HP crossover that got me to rewatch the series (I'm not sure I saw most of season three in the first place) and started reading other DP fics. Then this randomly floated into my head. Skulker claims to be the best and with how other ghosts seems to respect and give him leadership, that claim seems validated. Yet he's kind of subservient to Vlad and can never hold on to Danny, so this kind of explores that a little bit. Technus made his way in because someone has to make Skulker's robo-suits and they did become one (kind of) in some future.


End file.
